Joint tenants or tenants in common

[TuttiFruttiCutie]

Ultimately I want my children to inherit the property. Im thinking tenants in common to protect their share if one of us was to die. I suppose I'm wondering what would happen (hypothetical) if my husband was to remarry in later life- I wouldn't then want someone else inheriting the kids inheritance at least my part iyswim? Would that make more sense than opting for joint tenancy?

Dh and I are currently joint tenants, but are looking at wills/estate planning and may change this to tenants in common. I have two dc from a previous relationship and then we have two together; I want to ensure that my share of estate is protected for all four of my children. To be honest I know a few people who are thinking the same and there aren't stepchildren in their situations; they are just protecting their assets for their children in case their dh/dw survives them and then leaves everything to their new spouse - in that case there'd be no guarantee that the children would get anything.

The thorny point we are grappling with is that if something happened to me, dh could stay in the property until death/remarriage (cannot remember what it's called but something like a lifetime interest trust) but half would be owned by the four children (two of whom are older and not biologically related to him). He thinks he'd feel uncomfortable with that, so we're exploring options to give him the ability to buy them out - while maintaining the asset benefit for them.

Hope that ramble helps!

willy yes I get what you mean. I suppose part of me is worried one day my kids could turf us out!

If you're joint tenants and one of you dies the other gets the right to ownership of the deceased half. If the two of you are tenants in common the deceaseds half then forms part of their estate. I'm not a lawyer btw but Im thinking, presumably, if say, a DH dies and has huge debts their half of the property now forms part of their estate (not the case with Joint tenants) and can be used to pay off debts meaning the surviving tenant in common may have to sell? Also a spouse dying can pass the property (up to a certain value) without the surviving spouse owing inheritance tax but would that be the case if it was being left to children?

I think if it is set up to be in a lifetime interest trust (or whatever the thing is called) then it ring fences it from the estate somewhat and has iht benefits? Not totally sure though as we're still thrashing out the details as the rest of our estate is a bit complicated!

The trust would also ensure that the surviving spouse has the legal right to remain in the property until death (or I think you can specify remarriage); there are some clauses that you can add to allow for the portability (so dh could sell and buy somewhere else, but the portion that is protected under trust would be preserved)

In short I think that you would need the combo of TIC and trust to protect the assets; I believe solicitors who do wills are familiar with this kind of thing and it's not overly costly/complicated to set up.